goodsuds

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I racked my Cream Ale into my Tap-a-Draft bottles a little over 5 weeks ago. I sampled it a few times since week 2 and it went from being hoppy, thin and watery to having a strong malt flavor with almost no hop flavor, and unfortunately an aftertaste of ham or hot dogs.

My last batch of beer was a wit which I used 1oz of crushed coriander seed in the boil. I racked that into bottles and tried a few bottles around the 2 week mark. That beer was pretty drinkable around 2 weeks, but by about week 5 or 6 it had this same hot dog flavor, I presume from the coriander.

The only common piece of equipment shared between this batch and last is my primary. I didn't even use the same brew kettle or muslin bags. I cleaned it after I racked my wit, stored it for a few weeks, then cleaned and sanitized it for this batch. I used regular dish detergent, rinsed well to get the smell of the soap out, filled it with Oxiclean and water for a few hours, and sanitized with StarSan. It is a Cooper's DIY plastic fermenter FWIW.

Is it possible that this taste is left over from my witbier?

ReverseApacheMaster

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I don't think so. Spices generally don't get any stronger once you separate them from the beer.

What's your water source?

goodsuds

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I was using the water from the tap in my kitchen. The water tasted good and I never notice any chlorine taste, though we do have hard water.

goodsuds

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Could it be a flavor from the sediment? I just tapped this bottle and I've only drawn a few ounces to sample. The previous bottle didn't have this flavor, but it only sat at ambient for about 3 weeks before I put it in the fridge. This bottle was at ambient for a full 5 weeks.

JLem

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FYI Coriander is a major spice used in hot dogs, which is probably why I think all beers that use coriander taste like hot dogs

The only way I can think to get that "hot dog" flavor is through coriander, so, as unlikely as it seems, you must have passed the flavor on from the wit.

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AmandaK

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I'm totally subscribing to this thread not because I have a solution, but I want to know the source of this "ham" aroma/flavor as well. A section of the BJCP guidelines states, "Vegetal, celery-like or ham-like aromas are inappropriate." in regards to a Wit.

I've never known what caused this, but it has always made me giggle... teehee... ham-beer.

EDIT: I see the hot dog coriander comment now, perhaps you did not use fresh or high quality coriander? What was your source? I only use fresh Indian coriander from an ethnic grocery and crush it myself, so it never smells like hot dogs, more like grapefruits and glory.

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Stretch1991

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One of my local microbreweries (Kuhnhenn) had the same tast with their witbier, it reminded me of summer sausage. Its most likely the corriander, I found it to be kind of pleasing to be honest, like drinking and eating in one.

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ReverseApacheMaster

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I'd be inclined to agree that the coriander is somehow the culprit but you also have other flavor changes going on that would not be attributable to coriander. Plus you are cleaning enough to knock out any flavor rolling over from the coriander unless it's somehow trapped in your equipment somewhere like an autosiphon or bottling bucket spout.

I think it is something with the water supply. It doesn't take a lot of chlorine or chloramine to alter the flavor of beer over time. Chlorine will actually make a beer more malty until it starts to turn into chlorophenols. If your water is hard some of the minerals may be causing the change in flavor or while they are in suspension giving you one flavor but over time as some settle out it allows different flavors to become more noticeable. Does the hotdog flavor get worse? Change into any other flavors?

Check any equipment with moving parts or small spaces that could trap coriander. If you don't find any, try using spring water or RO water from the store in your next batch and see if the same thing happens.

bchurch

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I don't see how it could be leftover from your last batch after cleaning your equipment twice but I guess stranger things have happened. You should serve this beer when meeting new people and ask them if they want to try your weiner cream ale.

goodsuds

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It was whole seed coriander from my LHBS. I don't believe it was Indian coriander since the seeds are perfectly round.